I have bought and tried all addons for ATC so far. At the end, I am sticking with RC4 because it has the fewest downfalls of all.

 

FSX: Actually, it is very nice, but the vectoring is soooooo frustrating. As is the fact that they announce a new FL just after the VS jumps back to zero on the autopilot :-)

 

ProATC: I only was with them when they released the software, but at that time, claims and reality were so far apart that I canned it and never cared for updates. They asked quite some price for it and delivered sub-par. That's enough for me to not follow it anymore.

 

PFE: Would be the best, in my opinion, would it not be for one very annoying thing: If I use it with my favorite weather program, I get runway changes all the time, and they are only 30 seconds apart - which makes the flight completely unrealistic. Voices and such are very nice, though. Workflow is relatively unintuitive. However, it guides you even on the aprons and taxiways - big plus.

 

VoxATC: It comes with its own AI traffic, which is very limited. I prefer MyTrafficX as addon, so I stopped using VoxATC.

 

RC4: A bit robotic, but it sits nicely in the workflow and doesn't fault me on approach. So I stick with it.

 

 

BTW: Except for VoxATC, which comes with its own AI traffic, NONE of the other addons DIRECTS AI traffic. They simply react to it. MyTrafficX does influence AI traffic on the approach, though. If the AI plane comes too close to you, they "slide" it to the other side of the airport (at least in V 5.4, before that, I had to use SmoothAI).

I have a question regarding PFE.

 

How many US controller voices does it contain? Also, when I fly to other World regions is it required to manually change the controller voices like in RC4?

 

Well, if you go with the XPack voices only, it'll give you 7 generic U.S. voices plus 2 mid-western, 7 northern & 2 southern. Along with this you'll have 2 x African, 2 x Arabian, an Asian, an Australian, 9 x U.K., 3 x Canadian, 4 x Dutch, 2 x French, 5 x German, 1 x Greek, 1 x Hungarian, 1 x Irish, 3 x Italian, 2 x Latin American, 1 x Spanish. No shortage of accents there then......

 

And no, you don't have to manually change the controller voices - they'll change automatically when you cross different regions. And if you don't like any of the voices you have the option to block them in the Options. The voices are all 'real' - not a 'bot in sight, or rather, sound !

 

I used RC4 for a couple of years and found it a very good product - it still is. PFE however, imho, did the job better. A lot better. Once set up there's no reason to touch it - it does exactly what it says on the tin superbly :wink:

My PFE suddenly refuses to start, too less hotkeys available it says.. Cant get rid of it whatever I do..

PFE: Would be the best, in my opinion, would it not be for one very annoying thing: If I use it with my favorite weather program, I get runway changes all the time, and they are only 30 seconds apart - which makes the flight completely unrealistic. Voices and such are very nice, though. Workflow is relatively unintuitive. However, it guides you even on the aprons and taxiways - big plus.

 

From what you say PFE is ontop for me, IF i use AS2012.

 

Cause AS2102 provides option to lock winds at dept and arrival, to stop those nasty last minute runway changes.

 

RC4 does the last minute runway chnages as well, had to fix it with As2012 options mentioned above

I have been sitting on a fence for some time now, watching the progress of Pro ATC and it appears to me that they are improving in leaps and bounds in the area of ATC procedure and realism in general, not to mention the non robotic voices.

 

I am getting closer and closer to purchasing this software and appreciate the people who allowed me to selfishly wait and watch them help improve this product. Having said that, I think their efforts will be rewarded, because it looks like this program is going to end up a winner.

From what you say PFE is ontop for me, IF i use AS2012.

 

Cause AS2102 provides option to lock winds at dept and arrival, to stop those nasty last minute runway changes.

 

RC4 does the last minute runway chnages as well, had to fix it with As2012 options mentioned above

 

Yes, but excactly THAT didn't work.

Yes, but excactly THAT didn't work.

 

I was hoping you would not say that, been looking forward to getting all the ATC voice sets avilable in PFE and move from RC4.

i hope this issue you mention can be fixed. Infact is PFE regurlarly updated at all.

 

 

In any case, i came to conclusion, since this thread started, that i will try all the ATC mentioned here, since i have pretty much all of them by now. But the only one i have installed and used so far is RC4.

 

Soon as my P3d setup is complete gona be learning PFE.

 

VoxATC would be an option if i can disable its traffic, cause MyTRafficX 3D (Mytraffic5.4b)is looking great in P3D.

I have been using Pro Flight Emulator (PFE) together with FDC Live Cockpit (FDC) for a number of years now and I can highly recommend them. PFE replaces the default ATC and includes many voice sets with different English accents, taxi guidance system both verbal and visual and many other improvements. FDC acts as a copilot, performing checklists ext. also has cabin crew announcements, again with different accents. You can buy them individualy or together. They have been tweaked to work together.

Finally made second flight with PFE after various obstacles along the way to P3D install.

 

After second flight i can say that PFE excellent multi choice taxi guidance, and regional accent ATC ambience has made it my ATC of choice with no competiton nearby.

 

Previously used fsx atc and rc4.

 

Yet to use PFE enough to say which ATC vectoring and ATC precedures i prefer, as that takes time.

 

But for sure, and no doubt even using PFE for 2 weeks now, the taxi guidance is superb, its the first time i have ever been able to dispose of fsx taxi guidance, and i have tried many addons for this in past that failed.

 

Also like the fact that PFE ATC gives speed advice during approach. I am releifed the ATC does not nag you.

 

PFE installation and setup however is far less clear/easy than RC4. Example, for PFE you really cant use the product unless you have got PFeKeyMap display tool setup. Lots of key combinations depending on current phase of flight and ATC etc. You need this tool to show you the key map rather than memorise. for the tool to work i had to go back PFE sight to download some runtime. Googled that though. After various failed flights.

 

 

Like RC4, PFE too could definatly do with a better GUI that removes the confusion and overlap in the fact that PFE is a newer GUI on an old program. Example some options can be set in both programs, and you not really clear which setting has priority.

 

 

Compared to ATC i am used to, PFE is a breath of fresh air, setup could be much easier though.